This personal finance educator says budgeting is ‘toxic' — try ‘intuitive' spending instead

If you're trying to stay on top of your spending, you might have logged your finances in a spreadsheet, tracked every dollar, and created a strict spending plan, but one expert says budgeting like this can be "toxic."

Dana Miranda, a certified personal finance educator, is the author of "You Don't Need a Budget," a book that looks to liberate readers from the prevailing approach of managing their money.

"Budget culture is our dominant approach to money that relies on restriction, shame, and greed," Miranda told CNBC Make It in an interview, likening it to diet culture.

"Research shows in budgeting, and we see the same thing with a much broader body of research in dieting, that that kind of restriction doesn't work," she said.

"People tend to fail at sticking to those rules, and so you are inevitably going to feel like a failure. You're going to feel that shame because you're not reaching those sorts of arbitrary goals that are being set."

Not everyone agrees, and many financial planners say creating a budget is the single best thing you can do to improve your finances.

However, Miranda cited a 2018 study by researchers at the University of Minnesota who found little evidence that budgeting helps achieve long-term financial goals, adding that it can also increase anxiety.

Sheida Isabel Elmi, meanwhile, a research program manager at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, told CNBC Select that budgeting can be especially challenging for low and middle-income families. This is because they're more likely to have volatile incomes and lower wages which can't be easily managed by a strict, prescriptive budget.

Try 'intuitive' spending instead

According to Miranda, the toxicity of budgeting stems from a capitalistic culture geared toward making more money and accumulating assets, rather than focusing on the quality of life of individuals.

Instead of scrimping and saving your money, Miranda recommended "conscious spending," as an alternative. "It's like an intuitive or mindful approach to spending and using their money."

"So instead of making a plan for your money on where every dollar is going to go and trying to stick to that and punishing yourself when you don't, rewarding yourself when you do, take it more mindfully, moment by moment," she said.

"So how does money serve you in this moment? How can money serve you in a broader way outside of the numbers and spreadsheets that we tend to put it in?"

Miranda acknowledged that it's not easy to adopt this mindset, but said people need to start trusting themselves more.

When asked about the risk of overspending, Miranda said it's okay to take on credit card debt. Although controversial, she said carrying debt isn't always "ethically wrong" or as "destructive" as society would have you believe.

"I consider those as part of the resources available to you to spend," she says. "As long as we understand how our debt products work and the consequences of different decisions that we make around debt."

Not paying off your credit card every month can be costly, however, leading to additional debt, an increase in repayments, and damage to your credit score, CNBC Select reports.

Go on a 'money date'

Another way to avoid reckless spending is to take yourself out on a "money date" every fortnight, Miranda said.

"It's a way of automating your money management so that you don't just constantly have this ticker of money stress running through your head," she explained.

On the money date, you can check how your spending is affecting different areas of your life, and prioritize what's important.

"So if I take this vacation that my friends are planning, how does that impact the money that I'm putting toward retirement savings next month? Or how does that impact what I'm spending in other areas? How does that impact how much I'm going to use on my credit card?" Miranda said.

You can also create a "money map" which helps organize your goals, the resources you have access to, and your financial commitments, she added — and this should be flexible.

For example, if you initially planned for 10% of your money to go into retirement savings every month, but then you realize you'd rather spend that money now, you can do that with a money map.

"You can sort of move it as it makes sense for you, but it helps you to see your financial situation so that you can understand the consequences of decisions you make," she said.

"You can make sure that you always have this understanding of the lay of the land in your financial situation, so that it's easier to make those conscious spending decisions as you go about your day-to-day."

It's important to note that budgeting is a standard financial planning method recommended by experts, however. Tania Brown, a CFP and former coach at SaverLife, a nonprofit focused on helping low-income Americans save, previously told CNBC Make It that budgeting is important regardless of income.

"A budget tells your money where to go and what to do so that you can have the life you want," Brown said. "The less money you have then the more critical it is you prioritize where that money goes."

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